


The Earth Laid Bare

by Ancrath



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blackwatch Era, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Drabble, Gabe is basically Jesse's dad but we all knew this already, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, McGenji - Freeform, Panic, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 09:47:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14566374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ancrath/pseuds/Ancrath
Summary: Jesse knows what it's like to be an outsider. Genji is trapped in his own skin.





	The Earth Laid Bare

When he first caught wind of a young cyborg on the base, Jesse could easily describe himself as giddy. Angela, however, very immediately banned him from communication.

"He is very delicate. He came to me in such a mess and I don't want you ruining what little I was able to keep of him."

From then on, Jesse was acutely aware of the way his superiors felt about the new recruit and even more so of the weapon they had turned him into.

Genji was, apparently, just as aware. 

"Hiya, Genji!" As soon as McCree's hand connected with Genji's shoulder, the cowboy ducked back to escape the shurikens swiping at his throat. Both his hands went up, clear of harm. The cyborg's red eyes burned like fire while McCree's jumped everywhere, searching for something to latch onto. 

"Gee, I'm-" McCree stepped back and Genji lowered his arm, but the shurikens stayed engaged. McCree took the chance to watch the metal arm, the way the weapons cascaded upwards from the wires. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean...."

The cyborg remained there and McCree breathed relief when the shurikens retracted. Genji looked expectantly at him, waiting for something. His eyes, however hellish, looked lost. 

McCree grinned sloppily and reached out his hand slowly. "I'm Agent McCree, but you can call me Jesse."

Genji watched his smile pull at the creases along his eyes and drew his gaze along the cowboy's gestured hand. McCree seemed to cover his fear with ease. The oddness was how close he remained rather than scattering away to the farthest corner of the area. 

"Jesse." The taller agent didn't miss how his name rattled in the cyborg's voice, the mask altering his voice almost like a computer or translator. "It is nice to meet you." 

They spent enough, just enough, time together over the months for McCree to figure out that Genji was not unlike himself when he first arrived at Overwatch. He learned that Genji was a criminal blackmailed into work, just like him. That he was a Shimada, betrayed by his own family, his own brother. That everyone looked down on him the same way they looked down on McCree, but in a way that made it seem the cyborg was somehow more useful. Fitting, really. They hadn't ripped Jesse limb from limb, not yet. 

McCree watched each altercation with Genji from his side, times when they were walking down halls in silence and someone brushed against Genji or reached out to him and Genji reacted in the same way: body tense, shurikens drawn, eyes lit with fury. 

It didn't take long for McCree to realise that, no, it was not fury behind the frantic "Don't touch me!"

It was fear.

He began to put himself between Genji and other agents whenever they met.

"I want that cyborg on Blackwatch," Reyes said one day.

McCree looked up from his stew. Ana continued to stir her tea next to his superior, unfazed. 

"You're close to him, Jesse. What do you think?" Reyes had his chin propped in his hand, looking only slightly interested.

"We're not close," McCree replied, albeit reluctantly. "He's nice, is all, 'n' people forget to treat him as such."

"He's dangerous," Reyes counters.

"Only because y'all turned him into a weapon he doesn't know how t'deal with," McCree mutters. 

"McCree's soft on him," Ana hums. McCree is about to shoot a look at her when he notices that the smile on her face is gentle. When he looks back at Reyes, his expression is just as sweet yet with just a tiny smirk of his lips.

"I want you to talk to him, McCree," Reyes finally says. "At least ask him. I know what he wants and I'm more determined than Jack to get him there. Jack doesn't give a shit about him and I'd hate for the kid to feel like a waste."

"He already does," McCree says under his breath, but neither Ana nor Reyes hear him.

Genji joined Blackwatch. 

Reyes and Genji worked well together and Reyes thrived off of Genji's lack of hesitation. 

"Dead is dead," the cyborg told McCree, and he'd be lying if he said the comment didn't get under his skin.

Genji, despite his morbid statements, made an effort to spend the spare of his time with the cowboy, just as they had from the beginning. They no longer had halls to walk through or agents to avoid, but rather quiet moments outdoors or brief minutes undercover at dinner tables, where McCree could feel the tension dissipate from Genji the moment they were left alone together. 

Genji teased McCree about his giant, crooked grin. McCree grinned even more. 

There was a respectful space between the three of them. Reyes liked to push McCree around, take his hat, and ruffle his hair but McCree never once saw his commander reach for the small cyborg. He didn't coddle the kid or treat him like a delicate antique, but rather just recognised his need for solidarity. 

Moira arrived not too long after Genji. 

"She creeps the hell out of me," McCree sighed. "She has... claws. Reminds me of a witch. I don't like her."

Genji's legs were crossed and he seemed to lean into the sunset as if it was pulling him. "She is... I do not know the word."

"Spooky? Demonic, disturbing, sinister?" McCree flashed him a smirk.

"What does it mean when a person seems like they are always watching you and are always in your personal space?" 

"Oh," McCree's joke died in his throat. "Invasive?"

"Invasive," Genji sounded out the word slowly, the inhuman tone of his voice saddening McCree. Did they alter his vocal chords? Is that how he would sound without the mask on? Did he still have a jaw, a face under that thing? All he had ever seen of Genji's humanity was his eyes and his horribly scarred arm. No, that's wrong. He had seen Genji's personality, his longing, his despair. 

"What's it like, Genji?" The cyborg looked at him, and when their eyes locked, McCree wondered if they had ever actually looked at each other so in depth. McCree held his gaze. "Bein' a cyborg?"

Genji looked away and McCree found himself following his eyes. "Pain, and agony." McCree shifted while the cyborg stayed very still. "And I do not know what I am, a man or... a machine."

"Then why'd you agree to it?"

Genji looked at him then, anguish in his eyes. Something told McCree that Genji hadn't. That he hadn't understood, hadn't consented, hadn't known what the good doctor had offered him, what Jack had blackmailed against him, until it was too late. That he had accepted it and found something in himself when everything else about him was lost.

"I wanted to be able to walk again."

The day Moira pushed Genji too far came very quickly.

She had somehow gotten her fingers around his neck, his  _skin_ , loosely but there. Genji had snarled. 

 _"Don't touch me!"_ He lashed quickly, not with shurikens but with his sword. McCree was startled to his feet, shocked. Reyes immediately jumped between them, just barely in time to prevent Genji from skewering the valkyrie. It was over quickly, but McCree didn't remember seeing Genji relax after that, not even during their evening moments alone together, no matter how much McCree knew he desperately wanted to. He didn't say anything to McCree about it, but the cowboy understood. She had gone out of her way to reach him, and she had succeeded. He had let his guard down and she had pried him open.

They were in Dorado when their mission lost control. McCree barely had eyes on Moira, but his only connection with Genji were the occasional affirmations in his ear, and Reyes wasn't responding. Moira was soon lost to his peripheral no matter how hard he tried to stay near his allies. 

"Commander, where are you?!" McCree hid behind a stone wall and could feel the blasts behind him. Rubble flew upwards and scattered onto the brim of his hat. "Commander Reyes, come in!"

"Perhaps he is preoccupied," Moira cooed, her voice like a spell. "I believe your cyborg is down, McCree."

"Genji?!" McCree's attention whipped around, his eyes scanning his surroundings in a frenzy but finding nothing but enemy fire. "Genji, why didn't y'say anythin'? Are you okay?"

"I am fine," McCree heard Genji's typically rough voice over the comm after a moment of holding his breath. "I am... in a predicament."

"I'm comin' to you. What's your location?"

"The belltower." 

The nearby fire had stopped and McCree cautiously glanced around before launching into a full sprint, keeping what cover he could find, towards the belltower. Genji had gotten to the edge of the town and McCree couldn't even get out of the village square. He told himself not to be jealous, but the ninja's increased speed left him only slightly envious. Overwatch could alter his teammates into super soldiers, cybernetic ninjas, and mad scientists, but at least he was just fuckin' good. 

The line of enemy fire found Genji before McCree could. He was up with the bells, a few bodies scattered around him, but mostly deflecting bullets. McCree spotted the turrets.

"Genji, on your right, below you! Get over here!" McCree relayed into the comm, careful not to direct the fire towards himself. He needed to make a safe space for Genji to get down to. 

He saw Genji glance, saw his deflect stay steady. Strong cyborg. 

"McCree, I cannot get down unless those turrets are destroyed. They are locked on to me." Strong, but exhausted.

McCree crept swiftly around, taking out as much as he could with his pistol. One turret found him, but he was faster. Genji's deflect returned to another, and suddenly the firing stopped. 

"Genji, are you alright?" McCree panted. He retraced his path, keeping to the shadows and hidden paths. As far as the enemy knew, Genji was alone on this end of the town. 

"I am bleeding."

"What?" 

McCree was once again able to see Genji, and Genji was looking back at him from above. They were close enough that McCree could see the red of Genji's eyes, and their gazes remained connected as they spoke.

"I did not know this body could bleed."

McCree heard an unnerving sound far to his right. 

"Genji, get down,  _now!_ _"_ McCree leapt towards the cyborg struggling to climb down the tower. He had to beat the soon to be incoming rocket, he had to, he had to.

The ninja's speed was failing him, but he, to McCree's relief, at least made it to the ground, but only just that far.

"Genji!" 

The rocket fired, and Genji wasn't fast enough, but McCree was. 

The blast hit the gravel just in front of them when McCree hurled himself at Genji, wrapping his body around the cyborg. It threw them both violently back and McCree thought just enough to wrap his hand around the back of Genji's head to shield him from the ground's impact, his other arm pulling Genji's body to his own. They rolled for a long moment but McCree was up as soon as the momentum ceased, dragging Genji to cover. 

He had hands all over Genji, on his skin, his helmet, and all he could do was apologise over and over and over again, he knew he was touching him, he was so, so sorry, he felt so damn guilty, but he had to shield him, he had to protect him from the rockets raining endlessly down on the space they had just been. 

The explosions ended, followed by a gripping silence, and McCree waited for the terror Genji would unleash on him. He could feel the shurikens flicking in and out of Genji's arm.

He could... feel them?

Genji's arms were clutched around McCree, his hands gripping tightly to his serape. The shurikens scraped against the metal of his arms but soon they, too, were silent. 

"I had to, I'm sor-" but as McCree tried to let go of Genji, to get out of his space, Genji gripped him tighter, pulled him in. Held onto him. 

McCree shifted to kneel more comfortably, to kneel closer, and Genji took the movement to creep into McCree's angles and crevices. His helmet was freezing against McCree's neck and his breathing was heavy and ragged.

"Are you okay?" McCree asked softly, his hand returning to the back of Genji's head to hold him closer. 

Genji suddenly lashed back and McCree thought it was over, the moment was gone, but Genji was ripping off his mask and gasping for air, his hands returning to clutch at McCree's wrists the instant they could. 

"Panic?" McCree queried simply. 

Genji nodded erratically. His red eyes burned hugely. He had a cybernetic jaw. It took over what was once his lower lip, followed the line along the base of his cheekbones. His throat was meshy, wires stringing it together. His face was just as scarred as his arm and one of his eyebrows had a mark through it, but the expression of his fear was consuming him. 

It took a while for Genji to raise his eyes from the ground to meet McCree's, and the cyborg visibly retracted into himself. After another moment, he spoke.

"You are staring." His voice had that tinge of metal, but the mask's computer was long gone. His voice was quiet, silky. 

"I ain't scared of ya," McCree raised his thumb to Genji's cheek. The cyborg flinched harshly at the contact, but tried to relax, he just wanted to relax, to sleep, and found himself leaning into the cowboy's hand. The hand wrapped to the back of his skull once more, fingers entangling with wires and synthetic hair, pulling his forehead to McCree's collarbone. "You're safe," he whispered.

Genji's breaths leveled and his muscles let go of themselves. He let his arms guide themselves around McCree's torso and a hum escaped him before he could stop it.

"Where're you bleeding?" McCree remembered.

"It does not matter. Only a scratch."

"Genji."

Genji released his hold and revealed his side. Shrapnel embedded itself in wires, mesh, and synthetic skin, but blood seeped heavily through. "It seems I am still myself underneath all of this."

McCree cursed, shrugging off his serape and wrapping it around the cyborg. "That ain't a scratch, Genji." 

"I will be fine. You are here."

McCree sighed in defeat. "Yep. I'm here."

It seemed they were safe where they were, so McCree chose to keep them still and wait for Reyes to return. He didn't want to draw Moira's attention. She may have been a healer, but she had snapped Genji once before, wedged herself between his wires for her own curiosity and amusement.

Genji made a noise of disapproval when McCree moved but he flipped them around so his back leaned against the stone and he could pull Genji into his lap. He could feel the rhythmic thrumming of the machinery in Genji's back against his chest. The cyborg was small and it was not difficult for McCree to curl around him. 

He pulled his pistol from its holster and hid Genji underneath the serape. Genji's face found McCree's neck once more. 

"Commander Reyes, come in," McCree tried.

Static, but then, _"McCree. Where are you?"_

"I have Genji. He could do with some healing." McCree glanced down at the cyborg hugging him. Genji's eyes were closed. 

 _"Where?"_  

"Belltower, underneath. Left of the entrance. We're hidden."

 _"Good kid. Stay there_ _."_

"Yes, boss."

He looked down again. Genji was snuggled up and, if anything, looked rather cozy. "Reyes's on his way."

"You are warm." 

"That body of yours get cold?"

"Yes."

McCree brought his hand to Genji's bare arm, letting it run up and down his weathered skin. Despite the scars and beaten appearance, Genji's skin was smooth. McCree couldn't help but think of the playboy assassin underneath all the gear, the deviant Genji was in his previous life. He smiled the thought away because from all that had happened, that same delinquent was about to doze off in his lap in the middle of a battlefield. 

"Your hands are very rough." Genji's voice sounded as comforted as McCree hoped the cyborg felt. 

"Well, I  _am_ a cowboy," McCree taunted. "Raised in the wild west and all."

"I have only heard of the wild west in stories." Genji kept his eyes closed, his face buried.

"Well, y'could say I walked straight outta one. Not a big stretch."

"You are a good cowboy, Jesse." Genji settled deeper and McCree felt the last of the tension leave him.

"You never call me Jesse," McCree peers down in gleeful surprise. 

"I may have forgotten it was your name."

"No way. Y'never... Naw, I'm hurt, darlin'!"

"I am kidding."

McCree had to laugh at that. "Well, what d'ya know. The ninja's teasin' me."

When Reyes returned, Genji had fallen asleep and McCree had raised his guard. He nearly shot Reyes's arm off when he appeared, suddenly, around the corner, yet was still careful not to jostle the sleeping cyborg. 

"He okay?" Reyes asked quietly, nodding his head in Genji's direction as McCree lifted him up to carry him. 

"Yeah," McCree breathed. "Jus' tired. Kid needed a break."

"Shut up, you're the kid." 


End file.
